Most disappointing books you've read this year?

[whatausername]

Off the top of my head, mine are Modern Baptists by James Wilcox, Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding and Three Tales by Gustave Flaubert. The first two, to be fair, are very much of their time but even so they were incredibly unfunny and not particularly well written.

The Fraud by Zadie Smith. Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes. Mrs England by Stacey Halls. I couldn't finish any of them. And for a book I did finish, Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson, which I thought was flimsy and dull despite its promising setting.

Lessons in Chemistry, I'd read such rave reviews and everyone was loving it. I barely made it through 40ish pages and gave up.
Dead Head by C J Skuse, the third in the Sweetpea trilogy. I loved the first two but this was so boring.
The List by Yomi Adegoke. Mind numbingly dull.
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi. This was highly recommended to me but it was so crass and badly written.

Off the top of my head, Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson and Tge Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell, both of which I had been looking forward to reading. I didn't hate them but they fell short of expectation, just about reaching 3/5 stars.

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig. Straight down the charity shop.

A 'feminist' take on the legend of Theseus, Ariadne and the Minotaur. So bad I can't even remember the name.

Lessons in Chemistry for me too. It says nothing that isn't mainstream or widely accepted. Wow, women should be allowed to study science. So brave. I am a woman with a chemistry degree and was so excited to read it. Elizabeth reminded me of the type of pretentious snot person who would (unironically) use scientific names in day to day life solely to sound more intelligent and feel superior. Kind of like the book really: wanted to seem witty and intelligent but came across as utterly vapid.

Murder before Evensong by Richard Coles.

Dear God (no pun intended) I gave up after about 3 chapters. Pretentious? I have never needed a dictionary beside me when I read a 'light' novel, actually I've never needed one for ANY novel.

Open random page and find tintinnabulation, duumvirate, entablatures for example.

And I know he's a Rev. But he goes into so much religious detail it's mind numbing!

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood.

Its sitting looking at my judging me for only
being halfway through but it’s so slow! I am really disappointed in it.

The Skeleton Key - Erin Kelly
The Couple Next Door - Shari Lapena
Reminders of Him - Colleen Hoover. I'd never read her before so decided to see what the fuss was about...

Started reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow but have put it down. I'm not into gaming and struggling to get to grips with it - don't want to give up just yet though.

Another vote for Lessons in Chemistry
I also hated (and so did every single member of my book club) Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone.
How either of those ever got published is beyond me.

I quite liked the previous two books of Alan Partridge but Big Beacon was just ok. I haven’t read any terrible books that I can remember but not read that many this year.

Lessons in Chemistry for me too - I was really looking forward to it but I didn't bother finishing it in the end.

Murder before Evensong and the Thursday Murder Club were pretty terrible too and I didn't finish them either, but I was so sure I would enjoy Lessons in Chemistry, that was the one that disappointed me most.

There have also been some poor continuations of series that I have enjoyed in the past, but I suppose it's a lot to ask the writers to endlessly churn out good material.

Started reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow but have put it down. I'm not into gaming and struggling to get to grips with it - don't want to give up just yet though.
Sorry to tell you that I found it: difficult to start with (also not into gaming), it got better / interesting then went downhill. It's one of those that has a good idea but doesn't Know how to tie it all up at the end.

The Party by Elizabeth Day
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams (utter rubbish and I am certain the author hadn’t read a lot of the books that were supposedly transformative for her characters)
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

Oh no I'm so disappointed about Natalie Haynes and Kate Atkinson! I am desperate to become the bookworm I once was and was planning a delicious splurge, those are exactly the kind of books I'd have picked to get me back into it.

Lessons in Chemistry. Shittest book in a while.

Issac and the Egg - don't bother! Three Women - terrible sex scenes, seriously.

I forgot I tried to read Thursday Murder Club and gave up - I think stories like that focus too little on the crime and I just wasn’t taken with the characters and the comedy.

I popped on this board to get some ideas for a hamper I’m making for MIL.
Thought I should check out this thread for inspiration for what not to buy but as she bloody loved that Lessons in Chemistry maybe this thread should be the inspiration.

I LOVED Stone Blind, if it helps.

Lessons in Chemistry
Where the crawdads sing
Songbirds
All the broken places

I started reading Confess by Colleen Hoover. Just not good; I couldn't continue.

Also anything I have read by Matt Haig.

So glad to see other people mention lessons in Chemistry!! I also hated it and couldn't finish it and wondered what everyone else loved about it. Ditto the Thursday murder club series, all so twee and overly neatly wrapped up

Hauntings: A Book of Ghosts and Where to Find Them by Neil Oliver. I gave up around 100 pages in because it was so dull and so overwritten. Ghost stories are not supposed to send you to sleep. Give me a good Mumsnet ‘woo’ thread any day.

I did quite enjoy Lessons in Chemistry….

I have form for not liking/finishing anything that most of my book group like. Main one being The Echo Chamber by John Boyne. I eventually gave myself permission not to finish it and it’s still sitting there looking at me. I found all the characters so grating and it just wasn’t as funny as everyone else seemed to find it.

As others have said Lessons in Chemistry. So predictable and clunky. Shrines of Gaiety and The Marriage Portrait disappointing as I love both the authors. Maybe more editing needed. I think there is too much emphasis on writing ‘big books’ when shorter would be better.